Potential Persistence via Time Provider Modification

calendarMar 6, 2023  ·
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Identifies modification of the Time Provider. Adversaries may establish persistence by registering and enabling a malicious DLL as a time provider. Windows uses the time provider architecture to obtain accurate time stamps from other network devices or clients in the network. Time providers are implemented in the form of a DLL file which resides in the System32 folder. The service W32Time initiates during the startup of Windows and loads w32time.dll.

Elastic rule (View on GitHub)

 1[metadata]
 2creation_date = "2021/01/19"
 3integration = ["endpoint"]
 4maturity = "production"
 5min_stack_comments = "New fields added: required_fields, related_integrations, setup"
 6min_stack_version = "8.3.0"
 7updated_date = "2023/03/06"
 8
 9[rule]
10author = ["Elastic"]
11description = """
12Identifies modification of the Time Provider. Adversaries may establish persistence by registering and enabling a
13malicious DLL as a time provider. Windows uses the time provider architecture to obtain accurate time stamps from other
14network devices or clients in the network. Time providers are implemented in the form of a DLL file which resides in the
15System32 folder. The service W32Time initiates during the startup of Windows and loads w32time.dll.
16"""
17from = "now-9m"
18index = ["logs-endpoint.events.*", "endgame-*"]
19language = "eql"
20license = "Elastic License v2"
21name = "Potential Persistence via Time Provider Modification"
22references = ["https://pentestlab.blog/2019/10/22/persistence-time-providers/"]
23risk_score = 47
24rule_id = "14ed1aa9-ebfd-4cf9-a463-0ac59ec55204"
25severity = "medium"
26tags = ["Elastic", "Host", "Windows", "Threat Detection", "Persistence", "Elastic Endgame"]
27timestamp_override = "event.ingested"
28type = "eql"
29
30query = '''
31registry where host.os.type == "windows" and event.type:"change" and
32  registry.path: (
33    "HKLM\\SYSTEM\\*ControlSet*\\Services\\W32Time\\TimeProviders\\*",
34    "\\REGISTRY\\MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\*ControlSet*\\Services\\W32Time\\TimeProviders\\*"
35  ) and
36  registry.data.strings:"*.dll"
37'''
38
39
40[[rule.threat]]
41framework = "MITRE ATT&CK"
42[[rule.threat.technique]]
43id = "T1547"
44name = "Boot or Logon Autostart Execution"
45reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1547/"
46[[rule.threat.technique.subtechnique]]
47id = "T1547.003"
48name = "Time Providers"
49reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1547/003/"
50
51
52
53[rule.threat.tactic]
54id = "TA0003"
55name = "Persistence"
56reference = "https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0003/"

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